Sabre-toothed cats
the sabre-toothed cat.]]The sabre-toothed tigers are large, tawny, thickly-built felines that were originally from Earth. While the sabre-tooths found on Earth are now alive, a small group of them was taken from the planet by the Battalasks, a warrior race of batlike aliens. The Battalasks attempted to train the cats for use as weapons in war, as they suffered from a weakness to sound, making direct fighting difficult for them. The sabre-tooths were enhanced both in body and intelligence, capable of speech as well as becoming completely immortal - they didn't have to eat, sleep, or breathe air, and could not be killed by any means, quickly recovering from blows and shocks that would be fatal to other creatures. They could even travel in space without a spacesuit, although slowly. However, the sabre-tooths were not naturally an aggressive species and were not interested in fighting for the aliens. The Jurassic Explorers, on board the Lightning Bolt, found the creatures on the planet where they were being trained and felt sorry for them, taking them away from their masters. Alson the dryptosaurus became a special friend to Fangal, the sabre-tooths' leader. The enraged Battalasks pursued the Explorers, trying to recapture their test subjects, engaging them in battle. The Explorers survived the encounter, but never returned to the Jurassic Quadrant for fear that the Battalasks would follow them, and Alson died in his old age away from home, leaving the sabre-tooths alone. When [[the Sauropod|the Sauropod]] discovered the'' Lightning Bolt'' in space, detected by the Megascope, Teggs, Gipsy, Iggy, and Sprite encountered Fangal, Kerr, and Clawdio, still alive on the floating wreck. While Fangal and her companions meant them no real harm, they tried to scare them away to keep the Battalasks from following. Teggs tricked them into electrocuting themselves, mistaking them for dead. However, the three woke up and woke the other sabre-tooths on board. The astrosaurs fought Fangal, escaping her and trapping her in the doorway. They met six vegetarian dryptosaurus, led by Wettus and direct descendants of Alson, who had come in search of a weapon aboard the ship. The sabre-tooth revealed her ability to speak, asking to be released and explaining her origins, as well as describing the real threat of the Battalasks. She deeply respected Wettus because he was related to her old friend. Teggs offered Fangal and her pack DSS protection and took her to Outpost Q, only to find that a gang of Battalasks, led by Major Terrorkon, had captured the apatosaurus there, as well as Arx and Alass Tikka. Terrorkon told Fangal that he planned to take her back to his planet and, if she refused to cooperate, brainwash her into a vicious monster, using her to breed an army and take over the Jurassic Quadrant. During the ensuing battle, the Battalasks fled to their spaceship to continue the fight. The sabre-tooths on board the Lightning Bolt escaped and rebelled against their masters, distracting them while the Megascope was prepared to exploit the aliens' weakness to loud noise.The ship was destroyed, freeing the sabre-toothed cats from the Battalasks forever. Speck, to apologize for accepting help from the creatures in building his device, offered to help find the cats and Wettus a new home far from the Jurassic Quadrant. Real sabre-toothed tigers, or Smilodon, were large, powerful carnivores that lived at the same time as early humans. They may have hunted in packs, their strength and large fangs allowing them to overpower and kill large prey quickly. While they are often called sabre-toothed tigers, they were only distantly related to modern tigers, belonging to a large and now-extinct family of big cats. The name Smilodon means "knife tooth". Category:Astrosaurs Category:Creatures Category:Earth animals Category:Carnivores Category:Mammals Category:Real-World Species